Topics

Western lowland gorillas in southern Cameroon appear to be the source for the second-most-lethal category of the immunodeficiency virus that crossed into humans, a new study suggests. The category, called HIV-1 group O, has not been nearly as dangerous to humans as group M, which has infected more than 40 million people worldwide. But its origin and history had been a mystery. Using nearly 3,000 fecal samples from gorillas in several western and central African countries, researchers reported Monday that they pinpointed the source population for group O, which infected 100,000 in west-central Africa, and for the exceedingly rare group P, which infected only two people. The simian...

Related "University of Pennsylvania" Articles

Western lowland gorillas in southern Cameroon appear to be the source for the second-most-lethal category of the immunodeficiency virus that crossed into humans, a new study suggests.
The category, called HIV-1 group O, has not been nearly as dangerous...

Not long after Lance Armstrong's unprecedented seven Tour de France titles were stripped in 2012, the cyclist tweeted a defiant photo.
Armstrong reclined on a couch in a dimly lighted room, appearing unworried about the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency's...

At long last, a group of respected physicians and obesity researchers has stepped forward to challenge the facile bromide that America's weight issues can be easily fixed by diet and exercise.
Take note, glib-talking doctors and legislators, rail-thin...

When it comes to the honesty demanded of public figures, Americans appear to be a fickle bunch.
Former President Clinton is once again a widely admired leader, despite infamous prevarications regarding his relationship with Monica Lewinsky. In...

If you're delaying your walking program to save up for a wearable fitness tracker, the ruse is over. A free app on your smartphone can do the job about as well as some popular wearable devices, a new study has found.
On average, steps counted with free...

The education gap between rich and poor continues to grow, becoming a chasm of opportunity that often blocks the search for a better economic life, according to a report released Tuesday.
The study, titled “Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the...

USC is once again ranked third among U.S. universities for its fundraising successes, according to a national survey being released Wednesday. USC was reported to have received nearly $732 million in gifts in 2014.
The annual survey by the Council for...

Picture books are often the primary means through which young children in the United States first learn about our nation's history. Telling stories about traumatic past events can prove challenging, though. How can we inspire young people from all...

The nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy ended Wednesday when the lawyer overseeing Detroit’s fiscal recovery declared the crisis over and gave elected officials control of their own budget for the first time in 20 months, a deal made possible in large...

Late December has a special meaning for colleges and universities, beyond the relief of winter vacation and the deadlines for final grades. This is the most important time of year for fundraising in higher education.
Even without Santa's help, some...

In 1954, when the Supreme Court ruled that segregated public schools were unconstitutional, Chief Justice Earl Warren emphasized the importance of public education as a crucible for good citizenship.“Today,” Warren wrote, “education is perhaps the most...

The Dodgers have hired Nick Francona, who spent 2014 working in the Angels front office and handling instant-replay duties during games in the first half of the season, to be their assistant director of player development, the Angels confirmed Friday.
...

Parents and pediatricians will often reach for antibiotics to treat middle ear infections, strep throat, fevers and other common ailments of childhood. But new research suggests that doing so, and prescribing broad-spectrum antibiotics in particular,...

Kekla Magoon's riveting postmortem account of a tragic shooting is as familiar a scenario in contemporary urban YA fiction as it has been in recent national headlines. "How It Went Down" opens seconds after a white bystander, Jack Franklin, guns...

While many colleges and universities actively seek high rankings in publications like U.S. News & World Report, one school has shied away from such self promotion.
As leaders of a Seventh-day Adventist institution, Loma Linda University...

Rashi Fein, a Harvard economist considered one of the fathers of Medicare, who threw his intellectual and moral weight behind full, affordable healthcare for nearly seven decades, stretching from the Truman administration to the Obama presidency, died...

Andrew Madoff, Bernard Madoff's last surviving son, died of cancer on Wednesday, years after turning his father in and insisting he had been duped like the rest of the world into believing history's most notorious Ponzi king was an honest financier.
...

Detroit emerged Friday from the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcy with a life line as it seeks to recover from an ocean of debt and mismanagement that threatened to drown the onetime symbol of U.S. industrial might.
The court approval of the city’

Prescription drug overdoses, a dangerous side effect of the nation’s embrace of narcotic painkillers, are a “substantial” burden on hospitals and the economy, according to a new study of emergency room visits.
Overdoses involving prescription painkillers...

Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, eminent oncologist, medical sage, policy advisor to the Obama White House, outspoken defender of the Affordable Care Act — has roiled the political and policy communities, both left and right, with an essay in the Atlantic...